Forum:Territory application/AR060-07 - Moskona (in exchange for AR120-06 and AN128)

Forums → Territory application → Territory application/AR060-07 - Moskona (in exchange for AR120-06 and AN128)

	Territory ID and proposed name
	The Territory ID (from OpenGeofiction:Territories, e.g. AR123a) and proposed name of the country

I am applying for the territory AR060-07^∈^⊾^ƨ, which I'll call Moskona from here on out. In exchange, I'd like to turn in my two personal projects: Whitestone (AR120-06^∈^⊾^ƨ) and Geare (AN128^∈^⊾^ƨ). I'm happy to clean up any of my previous mapping, as well as my (relatively small) wiki footprint. I'd also like to move most of the existing mapping in Moskona to other provinces in Deodeca, which has been tentatively approved.

I’m busier now than I’ve ever been in the past, and I feel stuck with many of my current projects. I decided that I need to cut back to a single, new project in a style that I’m familiar with. Since I’ve loved mapping in Kingstown, I decided that swapping to a nearby territory would be ideal.

Moskona, the new province name, is derived from a shortened version of “môskâkonakî”, meaning “emerge slowly from the snow” in Moose/Swampy Cree. I actually like Argueil a lot as a name, but I want to change it to reduce the Franquese influence and to allow Argueil to remain associated with Intergan’s original project.

	Physical geography
	An overview of climate, topography and landscape of the country. With the exception of Beginner territories, you should always create a sketch map to illustrate & explain your plans. You can add a link to this (hosted on imgBB, Postimages or similar, but not imgur.com)

The northern third of Moskona is amenable to farming and dense settlement, with Ordovician-era soils that also provide high-quality aggregate for construction purposes. This land tends to be gently hilly and rise away from Lake Betaouais. A small corner of the province's northwest, in the Anders Valley, is completely flat and agriculturally productive. Travelling south from this northern tier, a major shelf indicates the start of a shield geology which encompasses the majority of the province. This geology is mineral-rich with rolling hills and some mountains at the borders. In the northeast corner of the province, long-thin glacial lakes scour narrow valleys in a iron-rich landscape of short mountain ridges.

As a supplement to this description, a full geological map of Moskona can be accessed here.

Additionally, a full topographic map of Moskona can be accessed here.

Moskona's climate will follow the pre-existing Koppen climate map for Deodeca, which suggests a Dfa climate in coastal areas of the northern tier of the province, a Dfb climate in much of the shield and inland north, and a Dfc climate in the mountains on the province's periphery.

	Human geography
	A brief description of the territory demographics, economic development, land occupation, infrastructure and mapping style

Moskona's population will be about 1.2 million. Its capital, Seyburn, will have a population of about 300,000, while Kingstown edge cities Wetstone and East Cavalier and inland mining city Winterreise each have populations of about 100,000. I have drafted the populations of each city above 5,000 in this spreadsheet. Additionally, these populations are mapped at county level in this map.

Much of the province's human geography, including cities and major roads, can be seen in this map. The municipalities of Arguoise County are shown in context with the Kingstown Grand Metropolis in this map. As demonstrated by this series of maps, the vast majority of the Moskonan population and infrastructure is in the northern tier.

Within Moskona, governmental powers are typically devolved to the extent permitted by national law. This means that many public services are offered at the municipal and county levels, which tends to generate inequalities across these borders, particularly within municipality-dense Arguoise County. Following a period of austerity and privatization in the 1970s, service delivery in Seyburn has faced numerous challenges. The city’s lead pipes and combined sewage system have led to periodic water quality scares, although none have been prolonged. Seyburn is strongly dependent on coal-fired power plants, spurring the Deodecan government to invest in offshore wind projects on Lake Betaouais.

Post-industrial Seyburn is still largely dependent on manufacturing, especially its paper, furniture, and electronics industries. The University of Moskona is a major employer, and insurance is also significant. Delenter is dependent on railroad work and concrete production. Winterreise is significant for wire and cable production, and is also home to many part-time mine workers who take shifts in mines further south in Archanta for part of the year. Arguoise County has a strong Kingstown commuter base as well as a strong biosciences industry, which is partially spurred by Lake Betaouais University in Wetstone. In rural parts of the province, agriculture, particularly soybeans, corn, winter wheat, and alfalfa, is a major economic contributor north of the shield. Aggregate is also a major contributor, especially in communities near Delenter. Nickel, copper, iron, silver, gold, and zinc are all mined at scale in different parts of the shield.

Moskona's mapping style will owe primarily to Ontario and the Upper Midwest of the United States. The northern tier will be inspired most directly by Ontario between Toronto and the shield, but will also take notes from Eastern Ontario and Quebec. Arguoise County will owe to suburban parts of Minneapolis, Chicago, and Toronto. Seyburn will draw from Green Bay, Flint, Saginaw, Toledo, and Erie in the United States, as well as Kingston, Thunder Bay, and even Winnipeg in Canada. The northeast will be inspired by Michigan's Upper Peninsula and the Northern Highland of Wisconsin. Winterreise will owe to Sudbury, North Bay, and Saguenay, while the shield will be inspired by rural North Ontario.

	History & culture
	A brief description of the intended culture and language

Indigenous people have been living in Moskona for thousands of years. A robust indigenous civilization existed before colonization, with a working knowledge of bronze and iron, large-scale agriculture, and a series of artistic and architectural movements. The largest city, Sêskaham, existed where Seyburn is now, reaching a population of over 10,000 just before colonization. Some elements of the native city, including many of the stoneworks, the fort, and even parts of the street layout, are still visible in modern-day Seyburn.

Colonial settlement started in the 1720s with the founding of Wetstone and Charterhouse along Lake Betaouais. Both cities saw early growth spurred by agriculture along the lakeshore and lumber and furs from the interior. Violent conflicts between colonists and native groups were common during the first era of colonial settlement, and Ingerish settlers formed a colonial militia in response. In the 1760s, as Ingerish immigrants were encouraged to settle Moskona, additional colonial forces were sent into the district, leading to the capture and razing of Sêskaham and the “founding” of Seyburn. Isolated conflicts continued until the war with Franqueterre, in which indigenous forces allied with the Franquese. When the Ingerish won the war, they displaced the natives deep into the shield.

In the mid-to-late 1800s, industrialization hit Moskona’s coastal cities, particularly Seyburn and Delenter. Large-scale mining on the shield spurred the construction of new rail lines and the rapid growth of Winterreise. The colonial government built a mint in Winterreise around this time to take advantage of the nearby nickel and copper mines. A first wave of immigration to the province’s industrial centers took place in the early 1900s, with most immigrants arriving from Plevia, Castellan, and Mazan. A second wave occurred during the Great War, with young families and refugees arriving from around the world. The hollowing out of the province’s defence industry after the war, combined with improving conditions in many countries of origin, led many of these immigrants to be repatriated.

Moskona continued to thrive into the first few decades of Deodecan independence thanks to a relatively robust industrial economy. But the province began a prolonged period of industrial decline in 1960, and its population began to follow suit. While the mineral wealth of Moskona’s shield and the resilience of its labor unions slowed this process, the result was a prolonged period of slow decline, known as the “Lost Century.” In the 21st century, Seyburn has partially recovered with a pivot to electronics manufacturing, but the city is still heavily blighted, with a population slightly over two thirds of its peak. The rapid growth of Arguoise County, consisting of far-flung suburbs and edge cities of Kingstown, has reversed the province-wide population trends. The population of Moskona outgrew its 1960 peak around 2010.

Moskona has a rich and enduring musical and artistic heritage. Indigenous groups in Moskona built stoneworks that would amplify sound for performances, which commonly featured vocal choirs as well as a stringed instrument resembling a mandolin that was frequently played with a bow. These performance spaces and folk styles were adopted by colonists, and their influence remains in modern-day Moskona folk music. As inner city neighborhoods in Seyburn became blighted during the Lost Century, artists’ compounds began to emerge in some of them. Artists used indigenous stoneworks for performances, practiced urban agriculture, and refurbished some of the city’s old housing stock. Several of these compounds are still active today and have even become tourist attractions.

	Past mapping
	To support your request provide links to areas of OGF mapping which showcase your mapping skill. Mapping relevant to the requested theme & geography is especially useful.
	The {{coord}}, {{node}}, {{relation}} or {{scalehelper}} templates can optionally be used to link to the OGF map - they result in nicely formatted links. Or you can paste in a URL.

Eveleigh, Whitestone
Simmons, Whitestone
Inverrary River Valley, Whitestone
Bellavance, Geare
Kingstown area mapping including: Prince's Bluffs, Belle Plaine, Flennigan, Burgundy, and Albertville

	Username & date
	Sign and date the application by typing four tildes (~~~~) without spaces or "nowiki" tags.

Infrarrojo (talk) 07:02, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

Discussion

Hi, we've been discussing this application a bit among the admins. It makes sense to release AN128^∈^⊾^ƨ, but for AR120-06^∈^⊾^ƨ we'd probably suggest keeping it for now, with a view to perhaps merging it with AR120-07^∈^⊾^ƨ in the medium-term. No firm plan - just not something which needs sorted out right now due to both the state's small size and surrounding availability.
Regarding "like to move most of the existing mapping in Moskona to other provinces in Deodeca, which has been tentatively approved" - where has that been discussed / approved? That is by far my main concern regarding the application - over 300k objects are currently mapped within the province - it would be far better for the server to adapt that existing mapping. /wangi (talk) 21:30, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

Hi Wangi! The first point is fine with me, although I don't know if I'll have time to do much in Whitestone if I'm taking on the new territory.
For the second point, we've been discussing moving the mapping to Stradworth in the Deodeca Discord - sorry, "tentatively approved" was probably too strong here. I think the idea has the support of most of the Deodeca community, so let me know if there's an official channel this could go through.
Also, I understand the server load concern, but to my understanding moving mapping is less intensive than deleting or copy/pasting. Is it okay if dense parts of Liernase are moved elsewhere? I can help with this and any other labor-intensive parts of the application. Infrarrojo (talk) 18:44, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

From the Southern Deodeca perspective: we've had some preliminary talks with Infra about how their plans for AR060-07^∈^⊾^ƨ can fit into the region. This application is the result of those discussions. We also support adapting mapping from Argueil to a new home in Stradworth. - varnel_maiser (talk / varnel_maiser) 19:05, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

For what it's worth, I have no idea what I'd do with Whitestone, and am tentatively against annexing it to Ruppacke. --Fluffr Nuttr (talk) 00:30, 18 March 2026 (UTC)
Infra, this application is wonderful, and matches my vision for OA very well. I echo everything that Varnel said - I also look forward to seeing the prior mapping in its new home as part of the Stradworth project, which gives Intergan an opportunity to continue to map at their own pace. Full support and I look forward to collaborating with you 😁 - Diamantschiff (talk) 18:08, 21 March 2026 (UTC)

Infrarrojo, back to the topic of concern - moving the mapping... This is a real concern, which seems to be regularly ignored across the site. So, I'm going to need real specific details to consider. When I move mapping I typically do it by splitting up into sub-areas / polygons that are then used for cutting of ways, selection ("all inside"), scaling and rotation. Please identify areas to move, map a survey=mapping_move polygon (with id and description tags including node count) around each and the same for the destination areas (so, id=01-source will have a id=01-dest pair). That will then give somewthing concrete to review. Thanks/wangi (talk) 21:02, 31 March 2026 (UTC)

Okay, after discussing with the Deodeca community, I've put together areas to move like you mentioned. Here's an .osm file containing all of these pairs: argueiltags.osm.
Also, I'm not sure I understand how moving mapping impacts the site, but if there's something I can do to reduce the server load, just let me know! I was thinking that moving mapping gradually and/or uploading changesets at times of low server activity might be useful. Infrarrojo (talk) 05:27, 13 April 2026 (UTC)

Thanks, that's less moving than I had envisaged. What is the plan for the rest of the current mapping, delete, integrate, hybrid? Thanks/wangi (talk) 20:13, 21 April 2026 (UTC)

Thank you for approving my application! I plan to delete most of the rest of the Argueil mapping, except for the airport, nuclear power plant, and some of the natural mapping by the border. I'll also get in touch with the admins for what to do with Geare. Infrarrojo (talk) 05:56, 22 April 2026 (UTC)

Territory application approved

Approved AR060-07, releasing AN128. Please reach out to PortCal and/or ParAvion on any required clean up for AN128. For the moves from AR060-07, I have no specific requests on timing, other than the expected that they must be moves rather than copy'n'paste. I do have a remaining question on the remainder of the mapping, but that can be be dealt with above. Thanks/wangi (talk) 20:29, 21 April 2026 (UTC)